Exercises

1. Tell the story of Daniel Defoe's life.

2. What suggested the idea for the novel "Robinson Crusoe" to Defoe?

3. What is the main theme of the novel?

4. Speak about the characteristic features of Robinson Crusoe.

5. What helped Robinson to withstand all the calamities of his unusual destiny?

6. Do you think it is possible for a man to spend twenty-six years on a desert island?

7. Why do we say that the way Defoe portrays Friday's character does him credit?

8. What makes the novel realistic?

Jonathan Swift

(1667-1745)

"As fierce a beak and talon as ever struck,

as strong a wing as ever beat, belong to Swift."

THACKERAY

His Life and Work

Jonathan Swift was the greatest of English satirists. His bitter satire was aimed at the contemporary social order in general, and at the policy of the English bourgeoisie towards the Irish in particular. That is why the Irish people considered Swift their champion in the struggle for the welfare and freedom of their country.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, but he came from an English family. The writer's father, supervisor at the court buildings of Dublin, died at the age of twenty-five, leaving his wife and daughter penniless. His son was born seven months after his death, on November 30, 1667. He was named Jonathan after his late father.

The boy knew little of his mother's care: she had to go back to her native town of Leicester and Jonathan hardly ever saw her during his childhood. He was supported by his uncle Godwin.

At the age of six he was sent to Kilkenny School, which he left at fourteen. Then he entered Trinity College in Dublin and got his Bachelor's degree in 1686.

The Revolution of 1688 was followed by an uprising in Ireland, and Swift, being English, narrowly escaped the vengeance of the Irish supporters of James II. He sailed over to England and, after many years, once again saw his mother in Leicester. With her help he became private secretary and account-keeper to Sir William Temple, on the latter's estate at Moor Park, not far from London. Sir William was a retired diplomat and also a writer.

An English historian, who described Sir William Temple as a narrow-minded selfish man, said, "Little did Temple imagine that the coarse exterior of his dependant* concealed a genius equally suited to politics and to letters, a genius destined to shake great kingdoms, to stir the laughter and the rage of millions, and to leave to posterity memorials which can perish only with the English language."

· the coarse exterior of his dependant - the unpolished looks of his dependant.

(By dependant the historian means Swift.)

At Moor Park Swift made friends with Hester Johnson, the daughter of the housekeeper. He taught the little girl English spelling and gave her advice in reading. This friendship lasted all his life. Hester became the Stella of Swift's famous work "Journal to Stella."

Having improved his education at Moor Park by taking advantage of Sir William's library, Swift went to Oxford and took his Master of Arts degree in 1692. A recommendation from his patron helped him to get the place of vicar at a little parish church in Ireland, where he remained for a year and a half. He wrote much and burnt most of what he wrote. Soon he grew tired of the lonely life in Ireland and was glad to accept Sir William Temple's proposal that he should return to Moor Park, where he continued to live and work until his patron's death in 1699.

At the end of the 17^th century a discussion as to whether or not the works of ancient writers were superior to those of the moderns, which had started in France, spread to England. Ancient philosophers and poets were compared to the modern authors of the day, and each side strove to prove that the one or the other was superior. It goes without saying that the stupid controversy turned into face, as even ignorant people joined in the discussion. One such vain person was Sir William Temple. In 1692 he published an "Essay on Ancient and Modern Learning" in which he praised the ancients. Immediately his opponents, the scholars Bentley and Wotton, published a book in reply ridiculing Temple's ignorance. Swift wished to help his patron out of the awkward situation, in which he found himself, and wrote a satire "The Battle of the Books". The story is in the form of an allegory.

Swift pretends to have come upon an old manuscript, which he decides to publish. The manuscript tells of an incident that took place in St. James's Library. The librarian is Bentley, Sir William's opponent. He has given the books of modern writers the best place on the shelves, and has thrown the volumes of ancient works aside. The books of the ancient authors strive to get back their own, and make war on the moderns. Amidst a cloud of dust the two armies (the army of the ancients and the army of the moderns) engage in a battle. Swift did not want to take either side, that's why he does not tell his readers who won the battle. He drops the narrative pretending to have lost the end of the manuscript. Though written in 1697 the satire remained unpublished until 1704 when it was issued with another brilliant work by Swift, "A Tale of a Tub".

The "Tale of a Tub" is an anti-religious satire. The title of the book has a double meaning and explains the idea of the book. 1) "A Tale of a Tub" means a nonsense story told as a joke; 2) In the preface to the book Swift tells his readers of an old custom seamen had when at sea: if a whale began to follow the vessel, they threw an empty tub into the water to divert the whale's attention from the ship.

The empty tub symbolizes religion, which diverts people from the need to fight for their rights, and is useful in controlling the nation. The ship is the symbol of the State.

After the death of Sir William Temple, Swift became vicar again and went to live in a little place called Laracor, in Ireland. He invited Hester Johnson to come to this place. She had by then grown up into a beautiful young woman. It is believed that Swift made a secret marriage with Stella, but much of his private life is unknown to us.

At Laracor Swift kept an eye on the political events of London. Party strife reached its climax in 1702 when the Whigs were preparing for a war called "War of the Spanish Succession". Swift wrote a political pamphlet in defence of the Whig policy, which at that time was thought by most Englishmen to be for the good of the country. Some of the Whig leaders who had met Swift at Moor Park asked him to come to London. London brought him into the labyrinth of contemporary events, which became the chief passion of his life. Swift often went to the coffee-houses where he talked with the journalists and with the common people. His contributions to "The Tatler", "The Spectator" and other magazines show how well he understood the spirit of the time. Swift's conversations with the leaders of the English political parties are described in a series of letters he wrote to Stella ("Journal to Stella").

In 1713 Swift was made Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. While in Ireland this time, he came into contact with the common people and saw the miserable conditions in which the population lived. The expenses of the wars for new British colonies were a heavy burden on the people of Ireland. Swift wrote pamphlets criticizing the colonial policy of England, intending thus to help the common people. "Drapier's Letters" (a series of letters under the signature of "M. B. Drapier") were directed against the English government for their treatment of Ireland, and particularly for allowing a certain William Wood (a speculator) to make worthless copper money for circulation in Ireland. Swift roused the public feelings so effectually that the project was given up. This pamphlet and others made Swift so popular among the Irish people that he is said to have possessed more real influence over them than the highest of constituted authorities.

In 1726 Swift's masterpiece "Gulliver's Travels" appeared. Swift's inventive genius and biting satire were at their best in this work, which made a great sensation.

In 1728 Stella died after a long illness. This loss affected Swift so deeply that some of his biographers say he was never the same man again.

Conditions in Ireland between 1700 and 1750 were such as no English historian would have ventured to depict. Famine had depopulated whole regions. Travellers described how their way lay through districts covered with unburied corpses. All this worked like poison in Swift's blood. He wrote the pamphlets: "The Present Miserable State of Ireland" and "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents or the Country…" and other pamphlets. "A Modest Proposal, etc." is a biting satire on those who caused the poverty of the Irish population. Swift pretends to propose that parents of large families should kill their children and sell the meat in the market so as to escape starvation and do away with the surplus population.

Hard work and continuous disappointments in life undermined Swift's health. By the end of 1731 his mind was failing rapidly. In 1740 his memory and reason were gone and he became completely deaf. He died on the 19^th of October, 1745, in Dublin.

"GULLIVER'S TRAVELS"

In "Gulliver's Travels" Swift satirized the evils of the existing society in the form of fictitious travels. The scenes and nations described in the book are so extraordinary and amusing, that the novel is as great a favourite with children as with adults. It tells of the adventures of a ship's surgeon, as related by himself, and is divided into four parts, or four voyages.

Part 1

A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT

This part is about Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput.

After being shipwrecked, Gulliver gets safely ashore and finds himself in a strange country inhabited by a race of people about six inches high. Everything else is on a corresponding scale. By making them so small Swift stresses their insignificance, and makes the reader despise them as petty creatures and feel contempt for their ideas, customs, and institutions. Swift mocks at their Emperor, who boasts that he is the delight of the universe while, as a matter of fact, he is no taller than a nail.

It is easy enough to understand that Swift meant this small country with its shallow interests, corrupt laws and evil customs to symbolize the England of the 18^th century; the government ("a great office"), the court with its atmosphere of hostility, hypocrisy and flattery, where the author felt as lonely as his hero when among the Lilliputians, and religious controversy.

Swift compares the courtiers with rope-dancers: those who can jump the highest get the highest office.

"[…] The Emperor had a mind, one day, to entertain me with one of the country shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the reader's patience, to enlarge a little.

"This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for great employments and high favour at court. They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth or liberal education. When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens), five or six of those candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the court with a dance on the rope, and whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the Emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap,* the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper* on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him do the summersault several times together upon a trencher,* fixed on a rope, which is no thicker than a common pack-thread in England. My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers are much upon a par.*

"These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a limb. But the danger is much greater when the ministers themselves are commanded to show their dexterity; for, by contending to excel themselves and their fellows, they strain so far that there is hardly one of them who hath not received a fall, and some of them two or three. I was assured that a year or two before my arrival, Flimnap would have infallibly broke* his neck, if one of the King's cushions, that accidentally lay on the ground, had not weakened the force of his fall."

(Chapter III)

Courtiers who want to be awarded with a prize must undergo a special test, "a trial of dexterity", - they have to leap over a stick or creep under it backwards and forwards several times, according as the stick is raised or lowered by the Emperor and the first minister. Swift stresses the fact that it is very difficult for a courtier to please both the king and the minister. Flattery and hypocrisy are the only qualities necessary to work one's way up at the court.

______________

· Under this name the Prime Minister of George I, Sir Robert Walpole, is meant.

· to cut a caper - to jump playfully.

· a trencher - a large wooden plate.

· much upon a par - more or less equal.

· broke = broken.

"There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the Emperor and Empress, ad first minister, upon particular occasions. The Emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads, of six inches long; one is blue, the other red, and the third green.* These threads are proposed as prizes for those persons whom the Emperor hath a mind to distinguish by a peculiar mark of his favour. The ceremony is performed in his Majesty's great chamber of state, where the candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former, and such as I have not observed the least resemblance of in any other country of the old or new world. The Emperor holds a stick in his hand, both ends parallel to the horizon, while the candidates, advancing one by one, sometimes leap over the stick, sometimes creep under it, backwards and forwards several times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister the other; sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his part with most agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping, is rewarded with the blue-coloured silk; the red is given to the next, and the green to the third, which they all wear girt twice round about the middle; and you see few great persons round about this court who are not adorned with one of these girdles."

(Chapter III)

Tramecksan and Slamecksan, the two political parties which differed only in the size of their heels, were invented by Swift to ridicule the Whigs and the Tories who were always at loggerheads, though their political aims were almost the same.

"[…] for above seventy moons past, there have been two struggling parties in this empire, under the names of Tramecksan and Slamecksan, from the high and low heels of their shoes, by which they distinguish themselves. It is alleged, indeed, that the high heels are most agreeable to our ancient constitution; but however this may be, his Majesty hath determined to make use of only low heels in the administration of the government, and all offices in the gift of the crown, as you cannot but observe; and particularly, that his Majesty's imperial heels are lower, at least by a drurr, than any of his court.* (Drurr is a measure about the fourteenth part of an inch.) The animosities between these two parties run so high, that they will neither eat nor drink nor talk with each other. We compute the Tramecksan, or High Heels, to exceed us in number; but the power is wholly on our side. We apprehend his Imperial Highness, the heir to the crown, to have some tendency towards the High Heels; at least, we can plainly discover that one of his heels is higher than the other, which gives him a hobble in his gait."*

(Chapter IV)

__________

· The badges of the three highest Orders of England are meant.

· The preference of George I for the Low Heels, or Whigs, is indicated by the exceptional lowness of the Emperor's heels.

· This is a reference to the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George II; he could not decide which party to support and tried to please both.

In describing the war between Lilliput and Blefuscu, which was caused by disagreement concerning the manner of breaking eggs, the author satirizes the religious controversy between Catholics and Protestants, their contradictions being as insignificant as those between the Big-endians and Small-endians.

"Now in the midst of these intestine disquiets, we are threatened with an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, almost as large and powerful as this of his Majesty. […] Which two mighty powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate war for six-and-thirty moons past. It began upon the following occasion. It is allowed on all hands,* that the primitive way of breaking eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his present Majesty's grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers. Whereupon the Emperor, his father, published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs. The people so highly resented this law, that our histories tell us, there have been six rebellions on that account, wherein one Emperor lost his life, and another his crown. These civil commotions were constantly fermented by the monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the exiles always fled for refuge to that empire.* It is computed, that eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many hundred large volumes have been published upon this controversy […]. Now, the Big-endian exiles have found so much credit in the Emperor of Blefuscu's court, and so much private assistance and encouragement from their party here at home, that a bloody war hath been carried on between the two empires for six-and-thirty moons […]."

(Chapter IV)

Part 2

A VOYAGE TO BROBDINGNAG

Before long Gulliver undertakes another voyage. The ship meets with a terrible storm and anchors near Brobdingnag, the land of the giants, to take in a supply of water. While on shore, Gulliver is captured by the giants. On the whole, they are good-natured creatures and treat Gulliver kindly, though they are amused by his small size and look upon him as a plaything.

Brobdingnag is an expression of Swift's desire to escape from the disgusting world of the Lilliputians and to find the ideal: an agricultural country ruled by an ideal monarch. The author creates such a monarch in the king of Brobdingnag. He is clever, honest, and kind to his people. He hates wars and wants to make his people happy. However, the king's character is not true to life. In this part we don't find the sharp and vivid satirical descriptions so typical of the story of the first voyage. The most interesting episode is Gulliver's conversation with the king, when he tells the king about the war policy of his native land.

________

· on all hands - everywhere

· The "Emperor who lost his life" was King Charles I, executed during the English Bourgeois Revolution; the "Emperor who lost his crown" was King James II who fled to France after the "Glorious Revolution".

"[…] He wondered to hear me talk of such chargeable and expensive wars; that certainly we must be a quarrelsome people, or live among very bad neighbours, and that our general must needs (old use - necessarily) be richer than our kings. He asked what business we had out of our own islands, unless upon the score of trade or treaty, or to defend the coasts with our fleet. Above all, he was amazed to hear me talk of a mercenary standing army in the midst of peace and among a free people. He said if we were governed by our own consent, in the persons of our representatives, he could not imagine of whom we were afraid, or against whom we were to fight; and would hear my opinion, whether a private man's house might not better be defended by himself, his children, and family, than by half-a-dozen rascals, picked up at a venture in the streets for small wages, who might get a hundred times more by cutting their throats.

"Then the King added: 'My little friend Grildrig, you have made a most admirable panegyric upon your country; you have clearly proved that ignorance, idleness, and vice are the proper ingredients for qualifying a legislator […] I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.'"

(Chapter VI)

Part 3

A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBDUBDRIB,

AND JAPAN

Describing Gulliver's voyage to Laputa, a flying island, Swift attacks monarchs whose policy brings nothing but suffering to their subjects. The king of Laputa has no consideration for his people, and does not think of them at all, except when he has to collect taxes from them. The flying or floating island - "a phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy" - helps the king to make the people of his dominions pay taxes and it also helps him to suppress rebellions.

"If any town should engage in rebellion or mutiny, fall into violent factions, or refuse to pay the usual tribute, the King hath two methods of reducing them to obedience. The first and the mildest course is by keeping the island hovering over such a town and the lands about it, whereby he can deprive them of the benefit of the sun and the rain, and consequently afflict the inhabitants with dearth (famine) and diseases. And, if the crime deserves it, they are at the same time pelted from above with great stones, against which they have no defence but by creeping into cellars or caves, while the roofs of their houses are beaten to pieces. But if they still continue obstinate, or offer to raise insurrections, he proceeds to the last remedy by letting the island drop directly upon their heads, which makes a universal destruction both of houses and men. However, this is an extremity to which the prince is seldom driven, neither indeed is he willing to put it in execution, nor dare his ministers advise him to an action which, as it would render him odious to the people, so it would be a great damage to their own estates, which lie all below, for the island is the King's demesne.

"But there is still indeed a more weighty reason why the Kings of this country have been always averse from executing so terrible an action, unless upon the utmost necessity. For if the town intended to be destroyed should have in it any tall rocks […], or if it abound in high spires, or pillars of stone, a sudden fall might endanger the bottom or under surface of the island […]."

(Chapter III)

Swift's indignation and the bitterness of his satire reach their climax when he shows the academy of sciences in Lagado, the city of the continent of Balnibarbi. The author touches upon all the existing sciences. It is easy enough to understand that in ridiculing the academy, Swift ridicules the scientists of his time, who shut themselves up in their chambers isolated from all the world. The members of the academy are busy inventing such projects as:

1) extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers;

2) building houses by beginning at the roof and working downwards to the foundation;

3) converting ice into gunpowder;

4) softening marble for pillows and pin-cushions;

5) petrifying the hoofs of a living horse to preserve it from foundering;

6) preventing the growth of wool upon lambs, thus breeding naked sheep all over the kingdom;

7) ploughing the ground with hogs;

8) dying silk with the help of spiders;

9) simplifying the language by cutting polysyllables into monosyllables, and leaving out verbs and participles.

"The first man I saw was of a meagre aspect, with sooty hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged, and signed in several places. His clothes, shirt, and skin were all of the same colour. He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put in vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summer. He told me he did not doubt, that in eight years more, he should be able to supply the governor's gardens with sunshine, at a reasonable rate; but he complained that his stock was low, and entreated me to give him something as an encouragement to ingenuity, especially since this had been a very dear season for cucumbers. I made him a small present, for my lord had furnished me with money on purpose, because he knew their practice of begging from all who go to see them. […]

"There was a most ingenious architect, who had contrived a new method for building houses, by beginning at the roof, and working downwards to the foundation, which he justified to me by the like practice of those two prudent insects, the bee and the spider.

"There was a man born blind, who had several apprentices in his own condition. Their employment was to mix colours for painters, which their master taught them to distinguish, by feeling and smelling. It was, indeed, my misfortune to find them at that time not very perfect in their lessons, and the professor himself happened to be generally mistaken. This artist is much encouraged and esteemed by the whole fraternity.

"In another apartment, I was highly pleased with a projector, who had found a device of ploughing the ground with hogs, to save the charges of ploughs, cattle, and labour."

(Chapter V)

Then Gulliver visits the school of languages:

"We next went to the school of languages, where three professors sat in consultation upon improving that of their own country.

"The first project was to shorten discourse by cutting polysyllables into one, and leaving out verbs and participles; because, in reality, all things imaginable are but nouns.

"The other project was a scheme for entirely abolishing all words whatsoever; and this was urged as a great advantage in point of health, as well as brevity. For it is plain that every word we speak is, in some degree, a diminution of our lungs by corrosion, and consequently contributes to the shortening of our lives. An expedient was therefore offered that, since words are only names for things, it would be more convenient for all men to carry about them such things as were necessary to express the particular benefits they are to discourse on. And this invention would certainly have taken place, to the great ease as well as health of the subject, if the women, in conjunction with the vulgar and illiterate, had not threatened to raise a rebellion, unless they might be allowed the liberty to speak with their tongues, after the manner of their forefathers; such constant irreconcilable enemies to science are the common people. However, many of the most learned and wise adhere to the new scheme of expressing themselves by things, which hath only this inconvenience attending it, that if a man's business be very great and of various kinds, he must be obliged, in proportion, to carry a greater bundle of things upon his back unless he can afford one or two strong servants to attend him.

"I have often beheld two of those sages almost sinking under the weight of their packs, like pedlars among us; who, when they met in the streets, would lay down their loads, open their sacks, and hold conversation for an hour together; then put up their implements, help each other to resume their burdens, and take their leave."

(Chapter V)

Bourgeois critics accuse Swift of contempt for science. But it goes without saying that he criticized not science itself but the science that does not serve any practical purpose and is alien to humanity as a whole.

Being disgusted with life around him, Swift idealizes the ancient times when describing Gulliver's voyage to Glubdubdrib, the island of sorcerers, or magicians. The governor of the island has the power of calling whom he pleases from the dead and commanding their service fro twenty-four hours.

"[…] his Highness, the governor, ordered me to call up whatever person I would choose to name, and in whatever numbers, among all the dead, from the beginning of the world to the present times, and command them to answer any questions I should think fit to ask […]. And one thing I might depend upon, that they would certainly tell me the truth, for lying was a talent of no use in the lower world."

(Chapter VII)

Swift compares a modern government with the senate of Rome:

"[…] I desired that the senate of Rome might appear before me in one large chamber, and a modern representative in counter-view in another. The first seemed to be an assembly of heroes and demi-gods, the other a knot of pedlars, pickpockets, highwaymen, and bullies",.

(Chapter VII)

Part 4

A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS

The fourth voyage brings Gulliver to the ideal country of the Houyhnhnms, where there is neither sickness, dishonesty, nor any of the frivolities of human society. The human race occupies a position of servility there and a noble race of horses rules the country with reason and justice. Swift made horses the embodiment of wisdom, because in colloquial English the expression "horse sense" is a synonym for "common sense". The horses possess virtues which are superior to those of men. Unlike the Houyhnhnms, the Yahoos are ugly, deceitful, greedy, and vicious creatures. Having much in common with human beings in appearance, they possess all the evil qualities one can think of.

Some bourgeois critics say that these beastly creatures show Swift's extreme pessimism, which was caused by a deep contempt and hatred of humanity. These critics do not see the real nature of Swift's pessimism; it was called forth by his great love for the common people whose sufferings he so keenly felt.

While speaking to the king of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver tells him about his native country and about different causes of wars. By making his hero praise the war policy of England, the author shows its stupidity and inconsistency. This device is peculiar to Swift's style.

"He asked me what were the ususal causes or motives that made one country go to war with another. I answered they were innumerable; but I should only mention a few of the chief. Sometimes the ambition of princes, who never think they have land or people enough to govern. Sometimes the corruption of ministers, who engage their in a war in order to stifle or divert the clamour of the subjects against their evil administration. Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post or to throw it into the fire; what is the best colour for a coat; whether black, white, red, grey; and whether it should be long or short, narrow or wide,dirty or clean, with many more. Neither are any wars so furious and bloody or of so long a continuance, as those occasioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent.

"Sometimes the quarrel between two princes is to decide which of them shall dispossess a third of his dominions, where neither of them pretend to any right. Sometimes one prince quarrelleth with another for fear the other should quarrel with him. Sometimes a war is entered upon because the enemy is too strong, and sometimes because he is too weak. Sometimes our neighbours want the things which we have, or have the things which we want; and we both fight till they take ours or give us their. It is a very justifiable cause of a war to invade a country after the people have been wasted by famine, destroyed by pestilence, or embroiled by factions among themselves. It is justifiable to enter into a war against our nearest ally, when one of his towns lies convenient for us, or a territory of land that would render our dominions round and compact. If a prince sends forces into a nation where the people are poor and ignorant, he may lawfully put the half of them to death, and make slaves of the rest, in order to civilise and reduce them from their barbarous way of living."

(Chapter V)

The king of the Houyhnhnms has no idea of what war is, and Gulliver gives him the following description:

"[…] I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea fights, ships sunk with a thousand men, twenty thousand killed on each side, dying groans, limbs flying in the air, smoke, noise, confusion, trampling to death under horses' feet; flight, pursuit, victory; fields strewed with carcases, left for food to dogs and wolves and birds of prey; plundering, stripping, ravishing, burning, and destroying. And to set forth the valour of my own dear countrymen, I assured him that I had seen them blow up a hundred enemies at once in a siege and as many in a ship; and beheld the dead bodies drop down in pieces from the clouds, to the great diversion of the spectators."

(Chapter V)

SWIFT, THE GREATEST WRITER OF THE

ENLIGHTENMENT

Like all the writers of the period, Swift wanted to enlighten people, trying to share with them his opinion and judgement concerning men and things. In his works, in the pamphlets in particular, he addressed himself to the common people, whom he supported with all his heart. Unlike many of his contemporaries who wanted to better the world simply by teaching, Swift openly protested against the vicious social order, and went so far in his criticism as to attack the vital principles of the bourgeois system as a whole. The great writer saw oppression, vice and misery all around, but did not know how to eliminate them. The tragic fate of the Irish people especially grieved him and he did all he could to help them to secure their independence. Swift did not see any sure way of making people happy, - hence his pessimism, which led to bitterness and biting satire in the allegorical portrayal of contemporary life which we find in "Gulliver's Travels".

The greatest merit of the novel lies in the satirical description of all the faults and vices of the society of the time. Under the cloak of what seems pure fantasy Swift attacks the politics of the time, religious prejudices, wars of ambition and the absurdity of many aspects of science. Swift's uniquely simple style has an incomparable exactness and precision. Every line and every detail is alive with bitter, biting satire. The author presents the most improbable situations with the utmost gravity and makes the reader believe them.

Swift's ideas, as expressed in "Gulliver's Travels" had a great influence on the writers who came after him. The work has become popular in all languages. Like Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe", it has the merit both of amusing children and making men think.

In his satirical "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift" (1733), the writer sums up the meaning of his life:

Fair Liberty was all his cry;

For her he stood prepar'd to die;

For her he boldly stood alone;

For her he oft exposed his own.